


Emeralds and a Bruised Shoulder

by DeVloer



Category: Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Angst, Crying, Death Threats, Emotional Manipulation, Hurt, Hurt No Comfort, Manipulation, Other, Panic Attacks, Threats of Violence, implied dea, set just before the elections
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-13
Updated: 2021-01-13
Packaged: 2021-03-17 22:00:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,038
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28732347
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DeVloer/pseuds/DeVloer
Summary: Schlatt was a smart man, he always had a trick up his sleeve. After he got Quackity to join his party, the elections were basically already won. God, how easy that had been. The Hispanic was basically wagging his tail at the slightest bit of attention Schlatt gave him.But now, he had his eyes trained on a different victim; the bee-keeping brunet. And to get the kid on his side, he might need a little bit more... persuasion.
Relationships: Jschlatt & Toby Smith | Tubbo, No Romantic Relationship(s), Toby Smith | Tubbo & TommyInnit
Comments: 2
Kudos: 65





	Emeralds and a Bruised Shoulder

"Tubbo, could I have a word?"

Tubbo glanced up from his farm. Jschlatt stood just there a couple feet away from him, arms crossed and slightly leaning on the fence.

Tommy had been so happy when the other got unbanned, they spend nearly an entire afternoon with him, following like little ducklings and talking about money and business. It was fun, Schlatt was a humorous person, Tubbo liked him.

"Of course!" He quickly put down his hoe and shoved some of his carrots away in his inventory. The hems of his L'Manburg jacket were tinted with light splotches of mud, Tubbo would have to wash it later. "Can I dump some stuff back at my base, first? Else I gotta carry all this stuff with me..."

"Of course, of course." Schlatt nodded slowly, and Tubbo walked up to him. "I'd rather talk a bit in private anyway."

Starting their walk, Tubbo slightly tilted his head. "Really? How so?"

He had trouble keeping up with him, Tubbo realized. He was nearly two heads shorter than the capitalist, and his legs had to take nearly three steps to just to match the other's one step. Schlatt didn't slow down for him.

"You've got mud on your face."

"O-Oh."

Quickly raising his hand to brush over his skin, Tubbo indeed felt a small bit of mud on his nose that had already dried out from the sun. His cheeks turned red.

"S-Sorry, give me one sec."

Tubbo stopped his pace, equipping his water bucket and splashing some water in his face. It cooled down his skin, and he rubbed away all the wet dirt.

When he glanced up after drying himself off with his sleeve, he swallowed hard. Schlatt had clearly not waited up for him and had just continued his trot, a full ten metres in front of him now.

Pushing away the slight offence that came up, Tubbo just shook his head and ran up to the other. They were already nearing his house, maybe Schlatt was just in a hurry.

"Sorry, I-"

"You don't have to apologize." The monotone voice didn't match the kind words, and Tubbo blinked slowly. There was a certain... aura around the other, a more serious one, different from how Schlatt had portrayed himself yesterday.

It made Tubbo a bit... wary, but he ignored his feelings. Schlatt was probably just a bit tired, it was still pretty early in the morning.

They arrived at his house, and finally, Schlatt stopped, stepping sideways to allow Tubbo access to the door. Tubbo took it quickly and opened the door for him.

"Don't mind the mess, I haven't had time to clean up." That was a lie, Tubbo was just a messy person, but Schlatt didn't need to know that.

He walked past the other and got up to his chests, dumping out all of his heavy items. The blackstone floor lightly scraped as Schlatt's hoove-like feet made their way into his home. Schlatt's never been here, he faintly realized.

The door closed behind him, but Tubbo didn't glance up from his chest.

"So what did you wanna talk about?"

No answer came, making Tubbo blink slowly before turning his head.

Schlatt stood over an opened chest, exposing all of Tubbo's belongings with his back facing him so he was unable to see his face. A small, shining emerald got twirled around in his hands, and Tubbo just stared.

"Schlatt?"

"You know about the elections, right, Tubbo?"

Tubbo furrowed his eyebrows. "What? Of course I do! What do you-"

"I'd like to talk to you about business, Tubbo." Schlatt cut him off mid-sentence but didn't turn around, his attention still on the rare piece of ore.

"What kind of business, Schlatt?"

"Did you know that I am participating?" The half-goat brought his thumb up to his lips, licking the skin before bringing it back down to swipe what Tubbo guessed was some grime off the emerald.

"Yeah, of course."

"And you're voting for me, right?"

A sharp intake of air pushed his way in his lips, and Tubbo pursued his lips. He wasn't... Schlatt knows he was Pog2020, right? He didn't really think...

But Tubbo noticed the way Schlatt's fingers clenched around the emerald, and the way the other's voice hardened.

_"Right?"_

It wasn't a question, Tubbo realized as he stared at the emerald and felt like it was his own throat, hands clamping around it and forcing the wind out of his lungs. It was a _demand._

"...Yeah." His voice was soft, and he gasped for air when he saw the fingers loosen. "Of- Of course."

"Good..." Schlatt seemed satisfied, and Tubbo gulped slowly. "'Cause, y'know, a lot of things are going to change when I become president."

There wasn't an if, Schlatt was talking about when, as if he was already sure he was going to win. But Tubbo knew how many fans Wilbur had. Granted, many people followed Schlatt as well, but it would still be a close battle, not a clear win.

"Like- Like what?" The words were shaking, laced with fear. Tubbo didn't understand, it was like an entirely different person from yesterday was in front of him. Schlatt had been so nice, so friendly, and laughed at his jokes. Now he was so... _intimidating._

"Well, of course, there's the banishment of TommyInnit and Wilbur Soot."

Tubbo felt like the room was a lot smaller suddenly, a choking sense of claustrophobia washing over him like a pot overflowing with boiling water. That couldn't be- Schlatt wouldn't-

"W-What?"

"You heard me." The tone was low, dangerous, and Schlatt slowly turned around, finally looking him in the eyes. "Tell me, Tubbo, you love TommyInnit, don't you?"

His yellow eyes were cold, and Tubbo felt his blood turn into ice, all of his emotions getting clogged and turning into pure shock. This wasn't happening. It _couldn't_ be happening.

A horrible metal-scratching sound clashed through the room as Schlatt threw up the emerald and caught it in his hand again, the hard ore clinking hard against his metal ring. It made Tubbo nearly want to gag.

"I've been told you two are the best of friends." Schlatt took a step closer, the sound got louder, and Tubbo had more problem breathing. "You've built together, had wars together, you care about him, don't you?"

Tubbo was unable to respond, all of his words forgotten as he was lost in trance in those terrifying eyes that were making his fingers tremble.

"It'd be a big shame..." A grin stretched over the other's face, showing off a pair of sharp canine.

_"... If something were to happen to him."_

His muscles locked in place, and every follicle on Tubbo's skin got set on fire. No- Not Tommy- Anything but Tommy-

The first rule of the Dream SMP was to never slaughter another player. You could have fights with each other and even lightly harm others, but a healing potion had to be close by and you'd always pull back when someone asked you to.

The second rule was to always have a fire-resistance potion on hand when you're travelling through the nether.

"N-No." The corners of his eyes felt wet, and his nose got stuffed full of snot. Wide doe-like eyes started up into the grossly amused expression of the president-runner, and Tubbo felt like an ant, afraid that he was going to get crushed at any second. "P-Please, don't- don't hurt-"

"Hurt him?" Schlatt chuckled, a dark, terrifying chuckle that was overwritten with fake-assurance. "No, no, I won't hurt him."

For a second, Tubbo got railed in a false sense of security, and let out a jittery breath. But then Schlatt shrugged, and Tubbo started feeling faint.

"At least... _not_ _yet._ "

The room was spinning as Schlatt turned around. Tubbo breathed slowly in and lowered his head, gravity pulling a tiny tear down his cheek. He hated everything about this, this had to be some sort of nightmare.

"You see, Tubbo." The other continued, and Tubbo dizzily listened to the words. "Schlatt2020 has got quite a lot of fans, but I fear that will not be for long..."

The emerald was brought up once more, the reflection of the outdoor sun shining a square piece of light on Tubbo's shirt. "When my first acts of presidency are... brought upon L'Manburg, I will predict that many of my followers will, unfortunately... lose interest."

The square rose up to his face, and Tubbo instinctively squeezed an eye closed to block the light out. His heart was beating out of his chest.

"And so, I will need as many supporters as I can get my hands on, don't you agree?"

Tubbo didn't answer, too lost in shock, and so Schlatt just continued.

"Perhaps..." Schlatt turned around again, but Tubbo didn't dare look up. He couldn't look into those eyes again.

"...Your support?"

Tubbo wanted to scream out his answer, that he would rather eat his own liver before he would lose his loyalty to Wilbur. But he kept quiet, he was smart, he was laying out the connections and could tell where the conversation was heading, but it was like his brain refused to catch up with reality.

"Of course..." Schlatt stepped closer, and Tubbo felt that sense of smallness returning to him. "I can't force you to join my side, but, if you don't..."

That horrible clinking sound returned as Schlatt threw up the emerald, and a shiver of electricity crawled up Tubbo's spine to his neck, the hairs standing up like towers.

"Well... Let's just say I won't be able to guarantee Tommy's safety."

Tubbo breathed in sharply, nausea biting at his stomach as he had trouble keeping his breakfast down. It felt like there was an elephant sitting on his chest, breaking all his ribs and making his heartbeat go haywire. Schlatt stayed quiet in front of him, waiting for some sort of response, but Tubbo's throat was so dry that he wasn't able to produce one.

The ram clearly didn't like that, and the next thing Tubbo knew a hand gripped his shoulder and squeezed the tissue so tightly it would likely leave a bruise. He gasped out in pain and tried to rip away from the fingers, but Schlatt just clamped down harder, and for a second Tubbo thought he could hear his bones cracking.

 _"Look at me, Tubbo..."_ The other hissed, and Tubbo finally let the tears fall. Whether they were from pain or just the pure fear that was coursing through him, he didn't know.

Slowly, he brought his head up. The world seemed to stop as he once more made eye-contact, a tiny trail of snot running down his nose and falling into his open lips. Ruthless eyes stared back at him, and Tubbo nearly blanked out.

_"Have I made myself clear?"_

He didn't even have a choice.

"Y-Yes, Schlatt."

The hand lost its grip, and Tubbo weakly fell forward as he gasped for air. It burned, his shoulder burned, like a cup of boiling water had been thrown over it. His chest felt crushed, and his fingers and toes felt like ice.

Schlatt turned around again, but Tubbo kept his head down, panting softly to regain his breath.

"Pleasure doing business with ya, kid!" He sounded... satisfied almost, as if he gained enjoyment from their talk. "I just knew I could convince you!"

Tubbo felt numb, more snot and tears dripping from his nose and onto the stone floor.

"Oh, and by the way, Tubbo, if you tell anyone about our conversation..." A door creaked open as Schlatt chuckled darkly. "...I'll make sure Tommy's death will be as painful as possible."

Before Tubbo could even process the words fully, the door slammed closed, and everything turned completely quiet apart from his rapid heartbeat.

There were a couple seconds of overwhelming thoughts, each screaming at Tubbo that this didn't just happen, that he was just having a nightmare. A terrible, _terrible_ nightmare.

But when he didn't wake up in cold sweat in his bed, instead just staying in his house that barely even felt like his home anymore, did a hitch of breath escape him.

And then Tubbo sank to the floor, and sobbed.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm cleaning up all of my drafts. This one's super old as well, I hope you still enjoy it!
> 
> Have a nice day, my chipped coffee-cups.


End file.
